


Strangers Like Me

by chairdesklamp



Series: KSH (Kazokuseirituhen) 1997-98 [3]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Better Parent Issin Kurosaki, M/M, Teen Pregnancy, Trans Ichigo, Trans Ichigo Kurosaki, Why Yuzu does the cooking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 11:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18093626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chairdesklamp/pseuds/chairdesklamp
Summary: Chizuru comes over to see her new queer mentors, and Issin dispels some American myths for Chad. Also, see what led to Yuzu taking over the cooking.





	Strangers Like Me

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:
> 
> -I actually went and rented Tarzan when it came out on video for the sole reason Phil Collins sang for it. I didn’t see it in theatres because a lone adult male going to a Disney film doesn’t look great in a country that insists men have no parental abilities and only harm kids.
> 
> It’s not a bad movie, just an overdone story. I actually prefer the deconstructive George of the Jungle. They made a movie of it a few years prior to Disney’s Tarzan, with the guy that played Lowell on Wings, a show I got into when I first came here.
> 
> -Kentarou got his name because when I wrote that, I’d just been listening to ‘70s singer Kentarou Simizu, and I needed a name. My own username is because I was sitting at my desk, in a chair, lamp on. I assume most people bad at remembering names are also bad at creating them. This will sort of come into play with Ichigo’s baby, but it’s an excuse because I couldn’t think of a better name. 
> 
> -Yes, polynomials in junior high. And were they supposed to be speaking English, I would have someone say that that sounds like the name of a cereal. Americans will be puzzled by this, but in much of the rest of the world, from Japan to Mexico, High school (which is not mandatory even at time of posting in Japan, but there is a movement to make it so) is things like calculus. High school in much of the rest of the world is equivalent to a general education Baccalaureate from the US. The reasons Japanese parents often seek a American college for their children is: a)it can be cheaper, b) the big one is that America sort of conquered Japan in a way, and America is held up as fancy and prestigious solely due to the power imbalance. So even though it’s a repeat of high school with some career-focused stuff and in an unfamiliar language, it carries prestige for job seekers. This is actually an important part of KSH, the planned series to which this is a prelude. But yes, junior high in many countries teaches what better high schools in America do (Except lit is more global; “only dead white cishet men’s books make you smart” is due to a bigotry held in places like US and England)
> 
> -I own home intercoms from the ‘80s. You just plug them in and go, so long as nothing interferes with the signal. I believe they fell out of favour, but they were sort of a mid-century then-futuristic thing. 
> 
> -Issin reminds me of my own dad. So I gave Issin one of his recipes. Moreover, why would a second-grader take over the cooking of the house unless the alternative was just that bad?
> 
> -Yes, you can make a improvised deep fryer the way Ichigo does, but it can be quite dangerous, so I warn that you need a lot of cooking background to do it.
> 
> -Aunt Irina will show up a few times in this installment and throughout the whole of KSH a fair amount. Her full name, Irina Dukovka, is taken from singers Irina Shvedova, a solo artist, and Sergey Dukov of Ruki Vverh. I had a lot of Iron Curtain refugee friends over the years. What do you trade as immigrants from two different countries? Music and food!
> 
> -The Chens themselves are planned to be the first people in Ichigo’s neighbourhood we meet in KSH proper, in a montage inspired by one of the few not-so-racist scenes of Saturday Night Fever, first episode. Will have to be tweaked if I can’t film it.

“Tell me more  
Please show me  
Something’s familiar about these strangers like me”—“Strangers Like Me,” Phil Collins, (Unknown if recorded in UK or USA), 1999

Ichigo scoured his face with his hand as he and Chad bent over the maths textbook on Ichigo’s one-person desk.

“I can take solving for _x_ ,” Ichigo griped, “But three _x_ s, three _y_ s, and three _z_ s is ridiculous.”

“Yeah. But the test is Wednesday.”

Ichigo grumbled, rolling his shoulders that were stiff from hunching over the book.

Chad reached the shoulder nearest him, and began massaging it. He leaned into the touch, “Well, I have heard too much studying wears out your brain.”

The intercom on the wall near the door beeped, and Issin’s voice came through, calling Ichigo.

Ichigo sighed in defeat and got up to answer his father.

He pressed the talk button, “Yeah, dad?”

Once he released it, Issin spoke again, “You wanna make dinner, or shall we have Dad’s Amazing, Fancy Fusion Spectacular of beige soybeans and buckwheat noodle with béchamel sauce?”

“The only thing amazing about that is that it repels anyone from eating it. I’ll make dinner. We have chicken, we have pumpkin, we have breadcrumbs, and we have onions. I’ll just make tenpura.”

“Thank you, my heroic son, fruit of my l-“

Ichigo spun the dial of the intercom firmly to the “off” position with a click.

He looked at the clock—5.22 PM, despite the midday-like sun that that meant in August.

“Why don’t you stay up here where the central air doesn’t have to fight heat of the stove and study? Maybe then you can explain it to me.”

“Okay,” Chad answered, “if you’re sure.”

Ichigo wasn’t going to tell Chad he wanted to cook alone in hopes of impressing him, at least until after the meal, but he asserted he was, indeed, sure.

“You may be our only hope of not being held back another year.”

Chad chuckled and saluted him. Ichigo guessed it was a joke maybe only shared by military families of Chad’s birthplace of Okinawa, but smiled and left.

 

“Hi! It’s me! Are you making dinner? Whatcha makin’?”

Ichigo whipped his head around at the sudden intrusion, only to see Chizuru with his sisters in tow.

And suddenly, his glasses were no longer on his face.

He had an eleven-year old ball of energy, and he was a bit more tired these past few days than usual.

“Hey, Chizuru, wanna help me find something?”

“Okay!” Her eyes lit up.

Behind her the girls protested over each other that they wanted to help, too.

“You two go play in the living room,” Ichigo told them, eyeing the large soup pot of heating oil on the stove, “You’re too little; it’s dangerous.”

The girls pouted and grumbled as one, moping their way out.

“They’re square and silver metal. They always fall off; behind my ears is kinda wide.”

Amidst the ingredients, on the floor, Ichigo could not figure out where his glasses had gone when they slipped off.

Chizuru was on the floor, dutifully checking under the cabinets.

“Not under there?” Ichigo asked.

Chizuru pulled back and shook her head.

“I’ll look later,” Ichigo said, “I’m about to put everything in the fryer, and oil’s gonna spatter. Go play with the girls or go see Chad—he’s in my room upstairs.”

Chizuru had previously looked disappointed she hadn’t accomplished her mission, but lit up at the prospect of going to see the other person she looked up to, and darted off.

Ichigo dropped in the battered pieces, and looked at the batter still in the bowl. There was quite a bit, and he didn’t want to waste it, so he dumped in the contents, figuring fried batter on its own might pad out the meal since they were to have five people, anyway.

 

Ichigo came into the living room to announce that dinner was ready, only to see Chad entertaining all three girls at a make-believe dinner, dutifully pretending to serve imaginary food to a stuffed walrus. Somehow, Karin was even enjoying herself.

_Yeah, this is gonna be okay._

Ichigo didn’t want to interrupt—rather, he wished he knew where the home video recorder was—but he had to get everyone to get real dinner before the fried food got cold.

  
The rice was the only part of dinner… _edible_ , as much as Chad didn’t want to admit it. Anything fried was an un-drained, greasy, charred rock.

Chizuru busied herself with the rice, and the Kurosakis seemed to be cutting the pieces open to find edible bits.

Ichigo hunched over where he sat on what seemed to be the boys’ side of the table, turning to Chad with a frown, as he laid his fork down.

“I was hoping it’d turn out good and you’d be impressed, but it always turns out like this.”

Chad covered Ichigo’s hand with his own, “Maybe I should help you with this stuff.”

Yuzu, who had been trying to cut a long and especially tough piece, was now trying to break it with her hands.

Instead, it bent.

As the piece bent, some of the coating came off, away from the part that didn’t bend. Ichigo looked up in time to see.

“ _My glasses!_ ”

Ichigo reached over the table and took them from Yuzu, who was now crying, and peeled off the rest of the burnt-on batter from the glass lenses and metal frame. Sure enough, Yuzu had bent one of the wire sidepieces that had slipped off of his face earlier.

Yuzu climbed to stand on her chair, arms crossed as she glared angrily at the other side of the table.

“Dad can’t cook, and big brother can’t cook, so I’m gonna cook now, and no boys are allowed to cook here anymore!”

Ichigo, looked between his father and his partner, an obvious _‘but you’re seven’_ on the tip of his tongue.

Chizuru let out an excited squeal and grabbed Yuzu’s hands as she sat back down, “I know some cooking from my Aunt Irina in Siberia; I can teach you, and we can have some girl time! She’s coming to visit soon, she can show us herself, too!”

As the two girls worked themselves and their pitches of voice up in excitement, Chad looked between Ichigo and Issin.

“Everything aside, I can run to the market and get something to make so we have more than just rice.”

Ichigo, who caught the pointed look Chad gave him when he finished, smirked, “I dunno, Yuzu can be pretty stubborn once she sets her mind on something.”

Issin waved a hand, answering Chad, “That’ll take forever. I’ll go order us some delivery.”

  
Twenty minutes and a fair amount of cash later, the three girls were off playing British tea party with their portions, and the boys and man were on the couch, a plentiful assortment of dim sam in front of them.

“I could’ve just gone to the Chens’ shop. You know it helps me practise my Cantonese anyway.”

Issin leaned back in the sofa, “I figured you could probably use a little rest. Besides, I haven’t seen you eat all day.”

Chad smirked, “I’ve heard you may start wanting strange things soon.”

Issin laughed, “Yasutora, you were raised on an American army base, right?”

“Yes. My parents enlisted to help them immigrate from Mexico, and became career military.”

“So you had a lot of American TV shows at the base on English-language channels, right?”

“Yes, mostly.”

Issin nodded in satisfaction, “Yeah, that comes up on American shows a lot. My late wife’s younger brother spent some time in California in med school, and my best guess is that it happens because the American diet is nutrient-poor, even compared to our own, which isn’t great on vegetables. Anyone with anything taxing their system who isn’t getting enough nutrients may start craving up to and including things that aren’t food, like sand or paint chips. Your body’s trying to tell you that you need a certain nutrient, so eat something, but since your diet is lacking, your body doesn't know what to tell you to eat. “

He laughed, “Don’t worry, Ichigo, you’re not gonna go Lucy Ricardo here. I might have one of you boys pick up meals at the Seven-Eleven in 3-chome until Yuzu calms down, though.”

A blur of motion, and Chizuru was between the coffee table and the TV, hands behind her back, leaning forward with a conspiratorial smile, “Whatcha talkin’ about?”

Ichigo’s eyes blew wide, “Nothing!”

“Hmmm…”

“It’s a secret,” Chad stated firmly.

Issin watched, lamenting that they could’ve just said they were talking about Yuzu’s earlier declaration, as Chizuru continued to press the boys.

“What’s the secret?”

“We can’t tell you, because it’s a secret.”

Understanding that Chad’s words were final, Chizuru dropped her arms to her sides and pouted.

Chad patted the space next to him, just big enough for her. She stomped over, but didn’t throw herself down.

Ichigo picked one of the dim sam off the table and held it out to her like a peace offering.

“Baked char siu bun? They’re my favourite.”

Chizuru quietly accepted it, bit in, and smiled with a loud noise of approval before devouring the rest in the blink of an eye.

Chad smiled, Ichigo laughed, and Issin picked up his book, giving the kids some space.

“You like them, too, huh?” Ichigo asked.

“That was really good!…So…how long have you guys been boyfriends?”

“Since last Friday,” Chad answered, “But we’ve been friends since April.”

“Are you two gonna get married?”

Chad and Ichigo exchanged a look… they were already having a baby together…

“Uh…we’re not old enough yet,” Ichigo offered.

Chizuru narrowed her eyes in suspicion and pointed to him, “You, okay, but you” she pointed to Chad, “You look _old_! At _least_ 18!”

Chad let out a single chuckle. It was a fairly benign thing she was saying, and he’d been approached by people asking him what high school he went to or what university he planned to go to many times before.

“No, I’m also thirteen.”

Chizuru knelt on the couch and got in his face, eyes still narrowed, “ _Baloney!_ ”

Beside them, Ichigo was laughing, “No, it’s true, but I thought so too, at first.”

“Huh. Weird,” Chizuru hopped off the couch and grabbed a sticky tube of rice dough with shrimp and green onion.

“What’s it like being with another boy?” She asked, nibbling on her food.

Both blushed, but quickly realised that it was unlikely she meant _that_ sense of ‘being with.’

“Freeing,” Ichigo was the first to answer her, but he was looking at Chad. “Having someone that understands who I am. What I am. I don’t have to pretend. I can be myself.”

Chad cradled part of Ichigo’s face with one hand, gazing into his eyes, offering his own answer to Chizuru. Or to Ichigo.

“You can both be the strong ones. For each other. It’s okay to fight. But you can also be gentle.”

“But you don’t have to fight alone. You can share each other’s burden. It’s lighter when you have someone there, someone you can trust, and who trusts you. You can stand on the same ground, and trust he’ll have your back, like you have his.”

“You’re equals”

“Do you love each other?”

Both startled, having forgotten she was there.

Chizuru had hit on something that perhaps they had both only just realised in that moment.

Ichigo balled his hands into fists, and went with the only strategy he’d ever had, never breaking his gaze with Chad.

“Yes.”

Chad smiled, “A lot.”

Ichigo relaxed his fists, and lifted one hand to run through Chad’s hair. They leaned into each other, only to be broken off by Chizuru, now in front of them, attempting to hug them both.

“Oh, wow, that’s so cool! I wanna find a girl and we’ll be just like you two!”

As Chizuru’s head was bowed and smashed into their arms from where they sat, she didn’t see the shocked chuckle Ichigo let out, nor Chad return it with a bemused grin as he patted her on the head.

 

Kentarou had picked up Chizuru, Ichigo and Chad put the leftovers away, and Issin had tucked the girls in.

Issin came down the stairs, and Ichigo approached him, Chad right behind him.

“I’ve been thinking; I’m gonna get a whole lot bigger. It’s not gonna be safe for me to go to school and stuff—I’ll be outed immediately. What with my voice alone, it’s already a bit hard.”

Issin nodded in a rare serious manner, “I’ve been thinking about that. I’m a doctor and your doctor as well as your dad; I can just tell the school you’re having complications related to when we almost lost you to malaria when I was working with Medicins Sans Fronteres, and they couldn’t really argue with me.”

Ichigo visibly relaxed, “Thanks dad. Sounds good.”

“Of course, it takes a month or so to fully heal after giving birth, but after that, I expect you to work hard, both at school, and at Issin Kurosaki’s School of Dirty Fighti—!“

Ichigo rolled his eyes and started past him and up the stairs, “Good _night_ ,Dad.”

They entered Ichigo’s room, turned the lamp on, and took turns in the fairly small bath.

Ichigo came out in a towel to find Chad in his day shirt and boxers.

“Don’t sleep in your day clothes, that never works.”

“I don’t have pyjamas here.”

Ichigo thought for a moment before shrugging, “We don’t really need clothes around each other; I’m already pregnant.”

Chad let out a soft chuckle at the fact Ichigo was _still blushing_ despite the truth of the statement, and took his clothes off, folding them neatly on the desk chair.

“Why are you folding dirty clothes?" Ichigo asked as he slipped under the covers.

“I don’t want to mess up your room.”

“Thanks,” Ichigo said softly.

Chad turned out the light and went to get in the bed, but hung halfway off.

Ichigo turned his back to Chad, grumbling, “I’m gonna need a bigger bed.”

Chad wrapped his arms around Ichigo, and Ichigo let out a contented hum.

Chad moved his hand to rest over Ichigo’s womb.

“It’s so…unreal.”

“Yeah…it really is.”

“Ichigo…”

Ichigo rolled over in Chad’s arms, slowly, “Yeah?”

“…I love you.”

“Chad…”

Ichigo did as Chad had done earlier, caressing Chad’s cheek with his hand, “I love you, too.”

They kissed until they ran out of air.

Ichigo blushed again, fairly visible with the gold street lamp’s light through his window, “You know, again, since we’re having a baby and all, we don’t have to hold back anymore.”

Chad let out a laugh, and obliged.


End file.
